iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Language Development Research @langdevres.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Congrats to @ambridge.bsky.social, Motoki Saito, Samuel D. Jones, Tomoko Tatsumi, Kumiko Fukumura, Ayuno Kawakami & Colin Bannard on publishing "No evidence for an input frequency effect for children’s learning of participant role markers in Japanese" in LDR! ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/9...

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Claudio Tennie @ctennie.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

We need entry-threshold grant lottery systems with easy-to-estimate and easy-to-write basis - plus a basic-incoming grant basis. The latter will be very efficient in its use, the former will be just as 'good' as the current systems in its decisions, but far less wasteful in writing and reviewing.

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Language Development Research @langdevres.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Congratulations to Kin Chung Jacky Chan, Anna Theakston, and Silke Brandt on the publication of their new paper on children's acquisition of relative clauses! ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/9...

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International Association for the Study of Child Language @iasclchildlang.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

The latest Child Language Bulletin from the IASCL is now available! Read up on the latest updates in our association, upcoming conferences (including #IASCL2027!!!), and new resources available to child language researchers. Enjoy! www.childlanguage.org/latestbulletin

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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 09/08/2026

‘For many British children, school is a place of stress, in which exam results are overbearingly important and there is minimal scope for other forms of self-expression or creative transgression.’ @will-davies.bsky.social on what’s wrong with Britain’s youth: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

William Davies · Young People Are Different: What do Neets need?

It appears that Britain’s Neet problem is just one manifestation of wider epidemiological and psychosocial trends that...

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Each Friday night, I write a briefing on what happened in US science & higher ed. 🧪 Aug 7 (Year 2, Wk 32) ⛔ Fauci & contempt vote, new NIH grant terminations 👀 Schwartz confirmed as CDC Director ✅ new mRNA vax approved, $20B in climate grants unfrozen & so much more buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

buttondown.com

Year 2, Week 32

Aug 1-7, 2026 – Just keep swimming

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Dorsa Amir @dorsaamir.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

When we consider children in cultural evolution, we tend to cast them as recipients of adult culture. In our BBS target article, @sheinalew.bsky.social & I argued there's more: through 'peer cultures', children actively drive cultural adaptation. Our final paper + a rich set of responses is out now!

cambridge.org

Children as agents of cultural adaptation | Behavioral and Brain Sciences | Cambridge Core

Children as agents of cultural adaptation - Volume 49

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Language Development Research @langdevres.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

New paper by Alvin W. M. Tan, Kirsten Read, Sophia Gamboa, Janet Bang, and @vmarchman.bsky.social showing text in children's books is lexically and grammatically richer than spontaneous child-directed speech. ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/9...

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Language Development Research @langdevres.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

New research by @ashleyrblake.bsky.social, Richenda Wright, Ewa Dabrowska, Nick Riches & Elodie Winckel in LDR, linking individual differences in analogical reasoning with linguistic outcomes of children with DLD and their typically developing peers. ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/9...

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Vera Kempe @vkempe.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Hmmmm, wonder what that says about the REF?

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languagemit.bsky.social @languagemit.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

—— Open Mind is MIT Press’s Diamond Open Access Cognitive Science journal. We now have our first Impact Factor: 2.9 as of June 2026 Submit your papers to Open Mind direct.mit.edu/opmi

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Language Development Research @langdevres.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Congratulations to Katerina Palasis and Mar Cordero Rull on the publication of their new paper on children's acquisition of French linguistic variants! ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/9...

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

New short piece by me reflecting on science, non-partisanship, and the current political age. christinapagel.substack.com/p/non-partis...

christinapagel.substack.com

"Non-partisan" does not mean "silent"

Why scientists and scientific institutions need to speak up for science

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

short video on what is going on with birthright citizenship in the US and a couple of other things! youtube.com/shorts/P7BIC...

youtube.com

What's going on with birthright citizenship in the US?

YouTube video by Professor Christina Pagel

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

📢NEW RESOURCE: A new web resource and accompanying report to explore the vulnerabilities to political interference of 33 key UK scientific public bodies & 11 scientific advisory committees! unchecked.uk/public_body_... 1/7

summary of some key results on the vulnerabilties of scientific bodies

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Michael Pleyer @symbolicstorage.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I have another entry out in the International Encyclopedia of #Language and #Linguistics that I am super happy about! "Language Evolution and Social Networks" (with @limorraviv.bsky.social) doi.org/10.1016/B978...

the title page Key Points
• Languages adapt to features of social network structure, such as population size, network connectivity and heterogeneity.
• Network structure in ﬂ uences linguistic variability, convergence and rate of change of languages.
• The structure, systematicity and transparency of linguistic systems is also impacted by social network properties.
• Observational, experimental and computational approaches offer important insights into the relationship of language
evolution and social networks.
Abstract
Languages are complex adaptive systems that culturally evolve under different pressures and conditions. Social structure, and
in particular population size, network connectivity, and heterogeneity, play an important role in shaping human language
across multiple levels of analysis. These factors impact evolutionary and communicative dynamics such as the degree of
variability versus uniformity in the linguistic community, and the rate at which innovations spread and languages change.
They also in ﬂ uence the very structure of languages by shaping the degree of systematicity and transparency of grammars.
Synthesizing observational, experimental, and computational approaches, we shed light on the complex relationship
between language evolution and network structure.

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Language Development Research @langdevres.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Check out a new LDR paper by Adele Wallis, @mwslp.bsky.social, @vanigupta.bsky.social, and Matthew McKenzie, PhD, on narrative development in adolescents! ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/9...

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Language Development Research @langdevres.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Congratulations to Virginia Dubasik, Sara Kalhori Boroujerdi, and Rebecca Green on their new LDR paper on vocabulary teaching strategies in children's television programs! ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/1...

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#DefendResearch @defendresearch.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Universities are among the first targets of authoritarianism. Join #DefendResearch on 7/15 for “The Authoritarian Playbook: Risk, Reality, and Opportunities to Resist Democratic Backsliding in #HigherEd” with @lewan.bsky.social Register tinyurl.com/defendresearch-july #censorship #EduSky #SciSky

Square image with black background and stark red and white text describing #DefendResearch webinar titled “The Authoritarian Playbook: Risk, Reality, and Opportunities to Resist Democratic Backsliding in Higher Ed,” held on July 15th at 11 AM EST via ZOOM. Pictures of guest speaker Stephan Lewandowsky, PhD, Professor at University of Bristol and his book, “The Anti-Autocracy Handbook.” Register at link.

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Trump Action Tracker @trumpactiontracker.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Detainees at Florida’s notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration jail said guards were denying them food and fresh water until they signed documents presented to them in English that they did not understand. TAT: [Nationalism | Weakening civil rights]

theguardian.com

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detainees say guards deny them food and clean water until they sign English documents

Detainees say they’re given ‘rotten’ water and denied meals for not signing papers in English that they don’t understand

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Margaret Mitchell @mmitchell.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

📣 Announcing the release of the 🕊️ Annotated Encyclical 🕊️ from the ethics & society folks at @hf.co. Includes citations to relevant academic work. Very much a WIP. Please add work we haven't added yet! huggingface.co/spaces/socie...

huggingface.co

The Annotated Encyclical - a Hugging Face Space by society-ethics

Magnifica Humanitas, annotated with AI-ethics research

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Vera Kempe @vkempe.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Long, profound and devastating read for anybody who (still) cares about Higher Education in the UK.

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Vera Kempe @vkempe.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

Not sure what to make of Amazon running sponsored ads for … Marx’s Capital🤔

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Stefan Hartmann @stefanhartmann.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Out now: The full proceedings volume of this year's #Evolang @evolangconf.bsky.social - 575 pages full of interdisciplinary research on the origins and evolution of language! doi.org/10.17617/2.3...

Cover of the Evolang 2026 proceedings. The text reads "The Evolution of Language. Proceedings of the 16th International Conference. Editors: Stefan Hartmann, Marta Sibierska, Marlen Fröhlich, Yannick Jadoul, Mathilde Josserand, Theresa Matzinger, Katie Mudd, Jonas Nölle, Michael Pleyer, Sławomir Wacewicz, Przemysław Żywiczyński"

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Language Development Research @langdevres.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Congratulations to Megan Waller, Dhruv Nambiar, Anthony Tomasic, Madeline Elston, and Erik Thiessen on the publication of their new paper on children's narratives in Language Development Research! ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/9...

ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu

Characterizing children’s naturalistic narratives via machine learning

Storytelling is a fundamental human behavior, and narrative skill is predictive of success in many domains, such that the development of narrative skill is an important process in childhood and adoles...

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Language Development Research @langdevres.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Congratulations to Caroline Girardi Ferrari & Maity Siqueira on the publication of their new paper on figurative language comprehension in LDR! This is LDR's first publication to feature dual language abstracts (English and Brazilian Portuguese). Enjoy! ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu/article/id/1...

ldr.lps.library.cmu.edu

Development of a figurative language comprehension instrument in Brazilian Portuguese: A pilot study with preschoolers

This study pilot-tests a figurative language comprehension instrument in Brazilian Portuguese, evaluating its applicability and sensitivity with preschoolers aged 3 to 6 years. The instrument comprehe...

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Vera Kempe @vkempe.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Thinking back to my formative years in the GDR/USSR I will explore if we can leverage engagement with civic governance in and out of academia to halt this trend & retain affordances for democratic behaviours for GenAlpha + beyond. @lewan.bsky.social @chrischirp.bsky.social @psychscience.bsky.social

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Vera Kempe @vkempe.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Read Sandel’s book, y’all. It has explained so much to me. The next step is to work out democratic ways to replace the tyranny of merit with a new social contract.

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Association for Psychological Science @psychscience.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

@chrischirp.bsky.social provides an overview of Safeguarding Scholarship in Emerging Autocracies, an Annual Convention workshop with @lewan.bsky.social @vkempe.bsky.social Learn more about this #APS26BCN event happening NEXT month: www.psychologicalscience.org/publications...

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Simon Hammann @simonhammann.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.

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Stephan Lewandowsky @lewan.uk · 09/04/2026

🧵 New report just dropped 🚨 "Fractured Reality: How Democracy Can Win the Global Struggle Over the Information Space" — from the EU Joint Research Centre, led by Mario Scharfbillig and I. A landmark read for anyone working on disinformation, platforms & democracy. 👇 1/10

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Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄 @limorraviv.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

I'm hiring! 📢 Fully funded 4-year PhD position in Language Evolution using Communication Games at @mpi-nl.bsky.social. Come work with me on how different social pressures shape the evolution of new communication systems in the lab! Deadline for application is May 18th! share.google/fGTKbFS4v4Gb...

share.google

Fully funded 4-year PhD position in Language Evolution using Communication Games | Max Planck Institute

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Vera Kempe @vkempe.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Competent and compelling rebuttal of Labour’s most ill-advised and cruel policy on extending time to settlement. The UK government should hang their head in shame.

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Vera Kempe @vkempe.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

This is for those of us trying to retreat into the crumbling ivory tower: open.substack.com/pub/protagon...

open.substack.com

Tracking the facist project in the US /w Christina Pagel

Science Counterpunch - S1 Ep8

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Watch out for the midterms. The Trump administration has chipped away at free and fair elections over the last year - here are some of the things they've done over the last month... All actions available on www.trumpactiontracker.info Subtitles available! youtu.be/EkgsDCtAv-E

youtu.be

How Trump govt has undermined fair elections over last month

YouTube video by Professor Christina Pagel

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Vera Kempe @vkempe.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Utter brilliance, especially the footnotes!

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

Each Friday night, I write about what happened in US science & higher ed. 🧪 Year 2, Week 5: Jan 30 - shutdown w/UMN student leaders + Texas A&M protesters & AAUP/AFT advocacy - where we stand on research $$ - so many measles (21 day quarantine, oof) & so much more - buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

buttondown.com

Year 2, Week 5

Jan 24-30, 2026 - wounds to bind

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Vera Kempe @vkempe.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

This mind-numbing idiocy also fails to take into account the benefits our domestic students derive from their international peers.

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International Association for the Study of Child Language @iasclchildlang.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

We recently added a list of keynote speeches and presentations by child language scholars. Check it out! www.childlanguage.org/resources-fo...

childlanguage.org

Resources for Researchers — IASCL

The IASCL staff members wish you a Happy New Year!

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Vera Kempe @vkempe.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

It doesn’t matter whether you call this fascism or something else - history teaches us what atrocities social systems are capable of if not stopped in time. That time is now.

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

The shooting of Alex Pretti was (US) state sanctioned murder and has been followed up by attempts to destroy evidence and stop local police (and even the FBI) from investigating. Minnesota police are trying to counter the lies and illegality. Terrifying open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

open.substack.com

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